In typesetting by hand compositing, a sort is a piece of type representing a specific letter or symbol, cast from a matrixmould and assembled with other sorts bearing additional letters into lines of type to make up a forme, from which a page is printed.

Nesbitt, Alexander The History and Technique of Lettering (c) 1957, Dover Publications, Inc.ISBN 0-486-20427-8, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 57-13116. The Dover edition is an abridged and corrected republication of the work originally published in 1950 by Prentice-Hall, Inc. under the title Lettering: The History and Technique of Lettering as Design.